Before we get into the preview, let us briefly go through last season and the goals going into this year for the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Pelicans had an injury ridden season leading to a 34-48 record and without a draft pick. To put the “injury ridden” into perspective, starting point guard Jrue Holiday, starting center Jason Smith and sixth man Ryan Anderson missed a combined 159 games. Also to add to that, only four players on the roster played over 70 games (Tyreke Evans, Anthony Morrow, Brian Roberts and Al-Farouq Aminu), and three of which left in costless agency.
The goals going into the season for the New Orleans Pelicans were to acquire a starting caliber, defensive center who can crash the boards on both ends. Also, the Pels, more than anything, wanted everyone to become fully healthy going into the year and said that last year was hard to evaluate since the main core only played 13 games together. So health is the main goal coming into the season from an improvement standpoint.
The ultimate goal for this year is making it to the playoffs; everyone from GM to role players has all said playoffs are the minimum they expect from this year. After giving away their pick for the third year in a row, the Pelicans are definitely aiming for the playoffs and expect nothing less. You can argue the Pelicans would have been as close as the Suns last year if everyone was healthy, but that’s for another day.
Omer Asik was brought in for some non-guaranteed deals and a first-round pick. Asik sums up the first goal in what the Pelicans want to achieve coming into this year - a starting caliber defensive center who can rebound and protect the rim without fouling (which was something Pelicans centers couldn’t do last year). The Pelicans were a bottom 10 team in defensive rebounds, 17th in offensive rebounds and second to last in opponent's field goal attempts. Asik will help in all 3 of these categories and in all honesty, was worth whatever that pick could give the Pelicans.
Pairing Omer Asik with either Anthony Davis or Ryan Anderson makes for a terrific frontcourt which will present match up nightmares for teams. Both Davis and Anderson can shoot the ball from mid-range with Anderson extending that to beyond the three-point arc, proving no spacing problems on offense. The partnership of Davis and Asik will hopefully terrify players when attacking the rim.
The Pelicans also came into the off-season looking to solve their small forward issue they had. After gaining no real production from the position, the Pelicans wanted to acquire a starting caliber small forward, nothing too fancy, just a solid role player. Here is where the Pelicans shot blanks. After only being able to sign John Salmons to a one-year, $2 million deal and re-signing Darius Miller, the Pelicans didn’t acquire there ideal small forward. Both are solid role players but both inconsistent and not starting caliber for a playoff team.
Coach Monty Williams recently came out saying that, after neither small forward performed well in the preseason, the starting role will go to Tyreke Evans. This isn’t a surprise to be honest, as Tyreke plays the same offensively at the 1, 2, or 3. It’s defensively where Coach Williams worried last year. After Tyreke proved he could guard 3’s, he got the green light to start games.
The thing with the Pelicans depth is that it has the potential to be a very solid bench since most of these players had to start and play significant minutes last year. Standouts in that time were Austin Rivers and Darius Miller who both played excellent last two months of the year. Ryan Anderson has sixth man of the year potential if he can maintain his play from last year, where in 22 games, he was averaging close to 20 and 6 a game. Jimmer Fredette has been playing out of his mind, currently second in points per game for the Pelicans this preseason. Yet, he has to prove himself when it counts. Also, adding scrappy guard in Russ Smith and tenacious big man in Patric Young, who both lay it all out every night, could be huge some nights. The bench has the potential to be one of the best in the league but also could underperform with only Anderson proving he can play at a high level in the league.
Predicting the team record and seeding is fairly difficult for the Pelicans this season, especially because of their injury luck last year and how close the West was. Now, considering the Pelicans are fully healthy this season, they can go 50-32 throughout the year. This squad, at full health, is dangerous and will surprise some people, with lots of offense and the potential to be a very good defensive team behind Jrue Holiday, Anthony Davis, and Omer Asik. The way the bench has been playing is very encouraging and if Austin Rivers, Jimmer Fredette, and Alexis Ajinca can play as well as they have in the preseason throughout the year in limited minutes, that bench will be just fine.
Some other predictions about the Pelicans players for individual awards and accolades:
Anthony Davis – All-Star, All-NBA 2/3rd team, DPOY, either defensive team (last two years the winner of DPOY didn’t make the defensive 1st team), 5-10 MVP voting rank, blocks leader again.
Ryan Anderson – Sixth Man of the Year Candidate (Top 3 in voting)
Jrue Holiday – Top 5 in assists per game
Depth Chart:
PG: Jrue Holiday/Austin Rivers/Russ Smith
SG: Eric Gordon/Tyreke Evans(He Will start at SF but he will spend lots of time with the second unit too)/Jimmer Fredette
SF: John Salmons/Darius Miller
PF: Anthony Davis/Ryan Anderson/Patric Young
C: Omer Asik/Alexis Ajinca/Jeff Withey